Award No. 16

Award No. 17

Award No. 18

Award No. 19

Monday, March 30, 2015

The boys love Chewy.com, and couldn't wait to try their treats this month. There are always lots of good choices, and we choose the Merrick Kitchen Bite Grammy's Pot Pie.

Each piece is made to look like a slice of pie.

Oddly, I gave them the treats in the kitchen, and they both ran into the bedroom with them. Usually Shiver runs off to hide his and Chico will stay there to eat his. This time Chico hid under the bed and Shiver jumped on top of the bed. Here's Shiver enjoying his.

Friday, March 27, 2015

We haven't been able to pawticipate in this in a long time, so we just knew we had to join in this month!

We thought a lot about what we knew we would always remember, and decided that it was the time we met our mama for the very first time.

I, Shiver, came from a pet store in the mall. Yes, Mama knows it's wrong to buy from pet stores and she regrets that she ever supported them in any way, shape, or form.

Mama didn't even plan on buying a chi that day. She knew that she'd really been wanting one, but didn't have any plans to get one any time soon. She already had an ancient fox terrier at home, and a rather sickly cat, so she certainly didn't need another pet! But then she saw me, and she couldn't resist my manly charms. She picked me up and held me for a bit, then put me down and walked around the rest of the store. But something kept drawing her back to me. Finally, she took me to a small room where we were able to bond for a moment. Only, I sat at the door and cried the whole time. I was so scared!

Mama was gonna call me Avery, but I shivered all the way home. And that's how I got my name! I still shiver when I'm nervous or scared.

I walked into the house like I owned it. I was just a puppy, but I terrorized the ancient fox terrier and probably aged her much more than I should have. As I walked around the house for the first time, checking everything out, I knew that I would remember this forever, because it meant that I had finally found my furever home.

Fast forward a few years, and the ancient fox terrier and sickly cat had both passed on. My mom worked all day, although she would come home at lunch time to let me out. I HATED being left alone, even for just a minute or so. Whenever Mama would leave and come back, I cried and cried and cried like a big baby. Mama knew that I couldn't go on like this, so she looked for another chi to keep me company. That's where Chico comes in.

Mama found him on Craigslist. I can't believe she agreed to do this, but she drove out to the family's home by herself to pick him up. It had been explained to her prior to this meeting that Chico originally came from a puppy mill. He lived in a cage for the first year of his life, only being let out to go potty and to make babies. The state finally stepped in and he was brought to another state and sold to a family who didn't seem to treat him much better. In the beginning, things were probably OK. But then the woman had a baby, so Chico spent almost all of his time outside or in the garage. They recognized this was not a good life for a dog, so they decided to sell him for the same price they got him for.

Mama spent probably a good hour at the house. The wife was not there, so she was left alone with the husband. He must have wondered why she spent so much time there, but he didn't seem to be in any rush to get rid of her. Chico immediately curled up on her lap and made himself at home. They had a nice cuddle session before Mama finally came to her senses and realized she'd probably overstayed her welcome.

As they drove home, Chico knew that he would remember this forever, because he knew he was going on to a happier home and a much better life.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Monday, March 23, 2015

Spring has sprung, and brought allergies along with it. I can barely breathe.

Spring break could not have come soon enough this semester! Things been non-stop go go go and I'm absolutely exhausted. Thankfully, my internship supervisor said that it was important to have a full spring break off, and not to come in. That was quite the surprise! I still have a TON of homework (the essays are never ending!!!), but at least I can sleep in and spend my days with the chi's.

It won't be all work and no play. I've promised myself that I need to do at least one fun thing this week!

2. Where is your dad's family from - either recently or genealogically?

My father's family is from Ohio. Genealogically, I believe either his grandmother or great grandmother was a full-blooded Apache Indian. I think his early ancestors were also French.

3. Describe a memory or encounter in which you considered your faith, religion, spirituality - or lack of - for the first time.

My parents were two different religions, and the family never went to church together. My parents didn't exactly go out of their way to encourage me to attend church on my own, but they certainly never discouraged it either.

I spent the night with a friend when I was about 13 or 14. Her family was very religious, and I was expected to attend services with them the following morning. Because it was a church I had never attended before, I had no idea what to expect. Shortly after, my friend began pushing her religion on me. I attended a daylong program with her and was bored out of my mind. As I began to learn more about her religion, I realized it was not something that I believed in. I believe in God, but I did not believe in her particular religion for a variety of reasons. She had grown up with it, so it was completely normal to her. I recognized that, but I knew that it was not something that I would ever be a part of.

I moved away about a year after meeting her. One of the last times I saw her, she asked if I'd like to have the local church contact me me once I got settled in. I told her no, and I could tell she was disappointed. I spoke with her years later, and she told me she had left the religion.

4. Show and tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture?

When I was little, my mom always took my brothers and I shopping for school clothes at the end of summer. Usually we picked out my clothes first, then would look for clothes for them. I don't know why, but that's what this image reminds me of.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Source***This was supposed to have posted yesterday, but didn't for some reason.

I'm going mad trying to keep up with everything lately. So so so busy! There just is not enough time in the day to get it all done.

This past weekend I attended a workshop for school. It lasted two days, plus I had an event on Saturday night that involved my internship. And then last night I spent a few hours with my mom since I hadn't seen her in a week. I blinked and the weekend was comletely gone! Just another 5 hellishly long days, and I'll be off for spring break! Well, off from school. I'll still have to work at my internship.

1. What time do you leave for school in the morning? What time does school finish?
I work on campus in the mornings (except for Friday's), and have classes in the afternoon. I leave the house around 6:30 AM Monday through Thursday. I have one class and no work on Friday's, and leave the house around 8:30 AM on those days.

My schedule varies widely as when school finishes. My schedule is different each day, and sometimes I have meetings that I have to stay later for.

2. What sports do you enjoy watching in person? How about on TV?
I don't particularly care for sports. In high school, I went to a lot of the games to hang out with friends. I never paid attention to the game though, and would always have to ask someone the score before I went home because I knew my parents would ask. If I didn't know the score, they'd question me about what I did all evening, so it was just easier to ask someone else.

My father never used to watch sports on TV when I was a kid. Then one day out of the blue he began watching football. Sometimes I'd watch it with him whenever I'd come over for dinner on Sunday nights. He'd try to explain the game to me, but I never really got it. I miss that, now that he's gone. I don't miss watching football, but I miss the time we spent together.

3. Do you have a garden outside your house?
I don't. I'm not much of an outside person, and don't pay much attention to my yard - much to the chagrin of one of my neighbors who likes to point out how bad my yard looks whenever she has the chance. And she wonders why I try to avoid her...

The workshop I went to was about food, and dealt a lot with gardens. That got me to thinking maybe I should start a small one. Not sure if it'll happen, but at least I'm thinking about it.

4. Show and tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or tell a story if it reminds you of one.

Blue jeans - my favorite type of pants! Once upon a time I bought four or five pairs at once that all looked exactly alike. They were the only pairs that I had for several years, and now they're pretty well worn out. I finally decided at the end of last semester that I NEEDED to buy a couple of new pairs, so I did. Now I have three pairs, which works out pretty well. I go to school five days a week. I have to dress up on two of those days for my internship, which means no jeans. Those other three days I wear jeans.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Monday, March 9, 2015

Today is the first of 12 days in a row that I have to get up early and do school stuff. Ugh! I'm so excited for a time when I come home and it's actually MY time to do whatever I want, and not have to be writing endless essays, or studying for exams, or trying to catch up on reading a bazillion pages of an incredibly dull and dry textbook. I swear this semester is slowly killing me...

1. What is the most unerotic part of the human body?
Without a doubt, feet! They're ugly, they're often hairy, and they smell. Why is it those with the worst looking feet insist on wearing open toed shoes in the summer?

2. What single worst best describes you?
Exhausted!

3. If you had to choose between them, would you rather vacation in the mountains or near a lake?
I'm deathly afraid of large bodies of water for no apparent reason, so the mountains it is!

4. Show and tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or tell a story if it reminds you of one.

My computer just did a recent update and oddly, it changed things around a LOT! I don't like it because I'm used to how it used to be. I want to make it go back the way it was, but can't figure out how to do that. So I could really use that "help" button.

Monday, March 2, 2015

I wouldn't say I'm jealous of her necessarily, but I know of someone who everyone seems to absolutely love. People gush about her whenever they talk about her. They go out of their way to bring her things all the time. Guys go gaga over her. She also has a trust fund that allows her to buy whatever she wants whenever she wants.

I know she has a sad past, and she has some issues because of it. She lies about stupid things all the time, and doesn't bother to keep track of what she told you previously. No one ever calls her out on it, including me. I don't know why I haven't.

I'm sure not everything in her life is perfect. It just looks like it from the outside. She has things sooooo much easier than I do. No one is rushing out to buy me a drink from Starbucks on the regular, and I often feel invisible out in the world.

That's what I'm jealous of - not of her specifically, just that I see how much easier her life is compared to my own.

2. What's the biggest personal change you've made in your life?

I've lived in poverty since I got fired from my last job. If I didn't have my credit card set up as overdraft protection, I would have lost my house long ago. I'm very poor, and I hate it. I used to be able to pay my bills and sometimes I even had a little bit left over. Now, my job doesn't pay enough to cover my bills even. I'm living on student loans, and hoping things will be better once I graduate in May, and that I'll find a fabulous job.

3. If you could get all the nutrition you needed in a day from a pill - without worrying about what to eat, no food preparation - would you do it?

As much as I enjoy eating (too much, really), I would probably do this. It really would make things easier sometimes.

4. Show and tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or tell a story if it reminds you of one.

Once upon a time, I thought it might be fun to try to write a book. I didn't have any grand plans of trying to get it published or anything - just thought it would be fun to try. I wrote exactly one chapter (which I didn't save) about how one day I got in my car and drove off to a new adventure, having no idea of where I was going or where I'd end up.